Japanese teas: Spring harvest

Shincha, also known as "new tea", holds as 1st flush tea a significant place in Japanese tea culture. It refers to the very first harvest of young tea leaves in the spring season.  Harvests take place from early April till the end of May and begin south of Kyushu, move north until reaching the high mountains of Shizuoka.

This highly anticipated and celebrated teas offer a unique and distinct flavor profile, making them rare and sought-after delicacies among tea connoisseurs. Shincha's leaves are shaped in needles and evoke this year with our selection, a journey through fresh vegetal notes finely flowery for some and more marine and sweeter for others.

Green tea from Japan - Gyokuro Okumidori from Mr. Miyazaki

It is in Asahina that Mr. and Mrs. Miyazaki produce this exceptional traditional Gyokuro, made from the Okumidori cultivar. It is thin, dark green needles deliver a thick, very umami liquor. It is marine, vegetal with notes of warm sugar. This couple has been cultivating almost exclusively shaded teas in this very garden for decades. Mrs. Miyazaki makes straw screen during winter that will cover the tea trees before the harvest.

Green tea from Japan - Shincha Tobettoh

These beautiful dark green needles come from a small tea garden, in the heart of Hon Yama region. Harvested in May by Uchino Ryoichi, this beautiful light-steamed Shincha offers both freshness and sweetness. A tea with a unique mountain aroma, with vegetable and flowery notes with subtle astringency. «It is the second time that we select this Shincha. I personally enjoy Hon Yama sencha for their intense aromas and good long lasting !» Marine Sonié, Tea Master.

Green tea from Japan - Shincha Haruto

Harvested during the very beginning of spring in a tea garden from the Kagoshima prefecture, this Shincha comes from the Haruto 34 cultivar which is still little known. It is a brand new hybrid of the reknown Saemidori and Sakimidori cultivars which bring both sweetness and aromatic power to this tea. Its long needles reveal fresh,  vegetable and gourmet notes with a slight astringency.